#TrumpVsMusk
Unstoppable force loses battle with immovable object: Elon bows to Trump
Four days into a public feud between the world’s most powerful person and the world’s richest person, I declare Musk the loser
Elon Musk and Donald Trump are no longer friends. Tension between the two exploded into public view in the middle of last week, with each leveling sharp barbs at the other. Four days into the public feud between the world’s most powerful person and the world’s richest person, though, I declare Musk the loser. An unstoppable force has lost its battle with an immovable object.
From my colleagues Hugo Lowell and Andrew Roth: On Thursday, Elon Musk called for Donald Trump’s impeachment and mocked his connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as the US president threatened to cancel federal contracts and tax subsidies for Musk’s companies, in an extraordinary social media feud that erupted between the former allies. The direct shots at Trump were the latest twist in the public showdown over a Republican spending bill that Musk had criticized.
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,” Musk said in a post on X. He added: “Such ingratitude.”
The fallout was immediate. Shares in Tesla, already struggling, slid 15%, knocking about $150bn from its total market value. Consequences for Trump and the Republican party may be farther-flung: midterm elections for positions in the US Congress are not scheduled until the latter half of next year.
When Trump and Musk got together, US liberals forecast that the relationship would end in a public, acrimonious disaster. I did not think so. Musk was an extremely powerful and unusually close ally to Trump. Trump’s campaign needed the huge infusion of cash that Musk could provide. The Republican party did as well, and still does.
